St. Louis Children's Hospital Is Now Seeing Adult Patients With COVID-19

St. Louis Children’s Hospital is now treating adult patients with the coronavirus.

The hospital began admitting adult patients over a week ago in an attempt to relieve doctors at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a hospital spokesperson confirmed Friday afternoon. Intensive care units at Barnes-Jewish and other area hospitals are nearing capacity. Children’s Hospital is treating adults in both its emergency room and ICU.

This is the second time since the start of the pandemic that Children’s Hospital has treated adult COVID-19 patients. Doctors admitted adult patients “on an extremely limited basis during the spring surge,” Kendra Whittle, spokesperson for BJC HealthCare said in an email. She declined to specify how many ICU beds remain available at Children’s Hospital.

Admitting adult patients for short stays at the hospital is part of BJC HealthCare’s plan to manage it’s bed capacity, a statement from the hospital system said.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/coronavirus/2020-11-20/st-louis-childrens-hospital-now-seeing-adult-patients-with-covid-19-trauma-surgeon-reports